Crowds at Kingston Park have slumped this season as the Falcons have struggled on the field © Getty Images

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Newcastle Falcons are set to be hit with a fresh financial blow with sponsors reportedly threatening to withdraw their support next season unless changes are made to the management of the club.

The Times reports that there is widespread disquiet among sponsors and corporate box-holders at Kingston Park at the way the club is being run by owner and chairman Dave Thompson who has been criticised for, "autocratic management and poor communication".

The newspaper reports that club has debts thought to total £10m and a slump in attendances from an average of 7,104 last season to 4,970 this season have exacerbated problems. The fall in revenue has hit the club hard in an already testing economic environment and the withdrawl of several leading sponsors could strip the club of a further six-figure sum.

"A lot of the sponsors and corporate box-holders feel saddened and betrayed by the way the club is being run," one longstanding sponsor told The Times. "The club has not been going in the right direction for years and change is badly needed. If attendances are falling and our few best players have to leave, how can the club expect to attract supporters? The place has no atmosphere at the moment. The players aren't happy because the management is autocratic and they're not sure about their own futures."

The Falcons are currently only tenants at their ground following the sale of Kingston Park to Northern Rock in 2007 who in turn sold it to Northumbria University last month. Thompson, ought the club ten years ago from Sir John Hall, announced his intention to sell the club earlier this season but subsequently reversed his decision after failing to agree a deal to sell.

The clubs has been operating well below the Premiership's salary cap of £4 million this season and their current financial positions has called into question the future of high-earner such as Jonny Wilkinson and Carl Hayman.